Private Firms Approach Cambodia’s Bourse With Caution

When it became the first—and still the only—company to list on Cambodia’s stock market on April 18, the Phnom Penh Water Supply Authority saw its share price shoot up some 50 percent on its first day of trading before beginning two weeks of steady decline. Since then, the state firm’s share price has been edging upward and closed at 7,350 riel ($1.84) on Friday, still above its 6,300 riel ($1.58) opening price during its initial public offering (IPO) in April. But the precipitous fall looks to have spooked some private firms mulling their own IPOs. And despite the initial euphoria, it could still be a year or even more before private businesses decide to list, investors say. “We are preparing the documents for listing,” said Tan Monivann, vice president of Mong Reththy Group, a private conglomerate named after chairman and CPP Senator Mong Reththy, adding that the firm was thinking of listing its rubber and pig farming operations first. “But we feel hesitant as there is too much fluctuation in the share price on the market,” Mr. Monivann said. …